San Diego Foundation Funds Smart Water Pilot Projects in City of Solana Beach and at San Diego International Airport

SAN DIEGO, CA, November 30, 2016 – As part of its Smart Cities and Water Solutions Grant Program, The San Diego Foundation has awarded a total of $160,000 ($80,000 each) in grant funding to Cleantech San Diego to support two pubic-private partnerships that catalyze adoption of smart cities technologies and help achieve measurable water and energy savings in the San Diego region. The two winning proposals that will support water technology deployments at the City of Solana Beach and the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority were selected from a pool of five applicants for their potential to make San Diego more drought resilient. Cleantech San Diego is a lead partner on both proposals, each of which will make use of Internet of Things (IoT) technologies for sustainable water management.

“As our region faces growing pressures from drought and climate change, it is more important than ever for San Diego to explore new ways to manage our water wisely and sustainably,” said Nicola Hedge, Director, Environment Initiatives, The San Diego Foundation. “The San Diego Foundation is pleased to support exciting smart water technology deployments at the San Diego International Airport and the City of Solana Beach to test and implement win-win water and energy solutions for our economy, our environment, and our quality of life in the San Diego region.”

Condensate Capture and Reuse at San Diego International Airport

San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, which operates San Diego International Airport, is committed to pursuing a range of water capture and reuse activities to offset the nearly 80 percent of airport water uses that do not require potable water. With this grant funding, the Airport Authority will install intelligent sensors to monitor water condensation on air handling units in buildings and jet bridges. The sensors will provide a real-time, quantitative view of how much condensation is being captured and correlate the condensation production with weather and building usage. This information will help building managers quickly identify and predict when and where water is available that could be used for power washing, irrigation, and other activities across multiple facilities throughout the airport. San Diego startup company SenseOps will provide the sensors, software, and predictive analytics technology for this public-private project in partnership with Qualcomm Technologies and OSIsoft.

“We are tremendously grateful to The San Diego Foundation for their support of the airport’s efforts to operate in a sustainable and efficient way,” said Brendan Reed, Director of Environmental Affairs for the Airport Authority. “We are continually looking into innovative ways to plan, design, and operate San Diego International Airport in a manner that shows the utmost respect for our planet’s natural resources, and this partnership is a great example of those continuing efforts.”

Smart Water Monitoring: Empowering Water Knowledge, Conservation, and Security in the City of Solana Beach

Solana Beach will use the grant funding to deploy a field trial of HydroSmart Technologies’ Smart Monitoring System Platform and related smart apps to help homeowners actively monitor water consumption and provide real-time water loss and property damage mitigation. During a typical day, access to this information will help homeowners better understand their water consumption and empower measurable conservation efforts. Using advanced neural network technology the HydroSmart system’s software can prevent leaks and also quickly identify leakage events such as pipe-breaks, feeder hose bursts, and slow building pinhole leaks. When a leak is predicted or detected, the system immediately remotely shuts off the water and notifies the homeowner or plumber for corrective action, thus saving water and mitigating expensive flood damage. HydroSmart water data analytics will also enable the city to provide homeowners with customized water-savings suggestions based on their distinct usage patterns, such as replacing fixtures, installing low-water use landscaping, or taking advantage water-saving rebates, incentives, and programs. The pubic-private project leverages HydroSmart’s Smart Monitoring System Platform, SenseOps IoT gateway utilizing Qualcomm Technology, and the OSIsoft PI system.

“This public-private partnership will support development of Solana Beach’s climate action plan by way of demonstrating measurable water conservation savings and quantitative validation of water conservation programs’ effectiveness,” said Dan King, Assistant City Manager, City of Solana Beach. “We believe this innovative partnership will help our residents and businesses conserve water, save money, and assist the City in achieving climate action goals through real-time monitoring and tracking of water use.”

“It is a pleasure for HydroSmart Technologies to support the City of Solana Beach in demonstrating how implementation of our new smart city technology solution advances sustainable water management through increased knowledge of water usage and conservation, as well as real-time water loss mitigation,” said Mario Larach, CEO, HydroSmart Technologies. “For so long water users have been consuming in water-data-darkness and defenseless against significant financial water losses and water damage. Our Smart Monitoring Platform delivers a trifecta of security, conservation, and knowledge.”

“SenseOps is pleased to field demonstrate advanced IoT technology with the City of Solana Beach and San Diego International Airport,” said SenseOps CEO and Founder Dave Roberts. “Transforming data into water – it’s not alchemy. It’s the use of advanced technologies to measure, monitor, and manage scarce resources at a very granular level.”

Cleantech San Diego, the City of Solana Beach, and the San Diego International Airport share a goal of communicating the findings of their smart water pilots and sharing results with other stakeholders, cities, and water districts to ensure benefits across the San Diego region.

“Cleantech San Diego is pleased to be partnering with the City of Solana Beach and the San Diego International Airport on these new smart water pilots thanks to support from The San Diego Foundation,” said Cleantech San Diego President and CEO Jason Anderson. “San Diego is an innovative and sustainability-minded region that is particularly vulnerable to drought. Cleantech San Diego and our members are committed to helping advance opportunities for the public sector to tap into cutting-edge smart cities technologies – many created right here in San Diego – that benefit the economy and the environment by saving water, energy, and money.”

# # #

About Cleantech San DiegoCleantech San Diego is a member-based trade organization that positions the greater San Diego region, including Imperial County, as a global leader in the cleantech economy. As a nonprofit organization, Cleantech San Diego is uniquely suited to support the industry by fostering collaborations across the private-public-academic landscape, leading advocacy efforts to promote cleantech priorities, and encouraging investment in the San Diego region. Cleantech San Diego’s members include more than 100 local businesses, universities, governments, and nonprofits committed to advancing sustainable solutions for the benefit of the economy and the environment. Learn more at cleantechsandiego.org.

About HydroSmart Technologies, Inc.HydroSmart Technologies, Inc. drives intelligent water use and active management with technology solutions that provide SECURITY, CONSERVATION, and KNOWLEDGE. HydroSmart offers the first professional yet affordable solution that addresses existing market needs of residential and commercial property owners, water agencies, service providers, product vendors, insurance companies, and smart home monitoring services. HydroSmart’s patent-pending Smart Monitoring System Platform provides real-time monitoring and protection for leak damage prevention and water loss risk mitigation, reporting and engagement for water conservation, and useful, actionable information through data acquisition for decision support system analytics. Established in 2015, the company is led by a team with deep industry-leading executive experience in professional water products, smart home IoT devices and architectures, neural networks, and both conservation and cleantech initiatives. Learn more at HydroSmartTech.com.

About SenseOps, Inc.
SenseOps is a San Diego startup leading the digital transformation of machines, assets, processes and facilities leveraging the Internet of Things on the distributed web. SenseOps software, running on edge gateway computing devices, acquires high-speed data from sensors and control systems, analyzes the data, and presents actionable information and predictive analytics to end-users. The company was founded in 2016 by industry veterans with well over 100 man-years of experience in real-time data acquisition and management in the cleantech, smart grid, bluetech, renewable energy and industrial sectors.